Effects of running intensity on subjective vitality and perceived fatigue in daily life

Decades of research have shown the positive effects of exercise on well-being and mental health. But still, inconclusive results between the dose of physical activity (intensity, duration, frequency) and affective outcomes reveal that more research is needed (Chan et al., 2019). In particular, more studies with experience sampling designs, covering daily reports over consecutive weeks, may help to explore the theory of dose-response and exercise behavior outside the lab. Thus, the present study aimed to identify the effect of running intensity on subjective vitality (Buchner et al., in preparation) and perceived fatigue (Micklewright et al., 2017) in young female novices (N = 26, M = 23.69 years, SD = 3.2) in daily life. During an eight-week running intervention study, participants completed on average 20 solo outdoor running sessions (SD = 3.9) of about 30 min. Participants rated three times daily their subjective vitality and perceived fatigue as well as the post-running shift of both measures. Participants ran with light (39%), moderate (59%), and high (2%) intensities. Multilevel analysis revealed, that a higher training dose predicted a higher positive shift in post-running subjective vitality (p < .05) but not in post-running perceived fatigue. Subjective vitality was higher and perceived fatigue was lower on running days and subsequent days compared to others (p < .05). Generally, perceived fatigue had a negative impact on subjective vitality (p < .01). The present findings demonstrate the sensitivity of running intensity on subjective vitality and perceived fatigue and contribute relevant outcomes for future physical activity guidelines.